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Sodium and health : old myths and a controversy based on denial
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(2022) Sodium and health : old myths and a controversy based on denial. Current Nutrition Reports, 11 . pp. 172-184. doi:10.1007/s13668-021-00383-z ISSN 2161-3311.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13668-021-00383-z
Abstract
Purpose of Review:
The scientific consensus on which global health organizations base public health policies is that high sodium intake increases blood pressure (BP) in a linear fashion contributing to cardiovascular disease (CVD). A moderate reduction in sodium intake to 2000 mg per day helps ensure that BP remains at a healthy level to reduce the burden of CVD.
Recent Findings:
Yet, since as long ago as 1988, and more recently in eight articles published in the European Heart Journal in 2020 and 2021, some researchers have propagated a myth that reducing sodium does not consistently reduce CVD but rather that lower sodium might increase the risk of CVD. These claims are not well-founded and support some food and beverage industry’s vested interests in the use of excessive amounts of salt to preserve food, enhance taste, and increase thirst. Nevertheless, some researchers, often with funding from the food industry, continue to publish such claims without addressing the numerous objections. This article analyzes the eight articles as a case study, summarizes misleading claims, their objections, and it offers possible reasons for such claims.
Summary:
Our study calls upon journal editors to ensure that unfounded claims about sodium intake be rigorously challenged by independent reviewers before publication; to avoid editorial writers who have been co-authors with the subject paper’s authors; to require statements of conflict of interest; and to ensure that their pages are used only by those who seek to advance knowledge by engaging in the scientific method and its collegial pursuit. The public interest in the prevention and treatment of disease requires no less.
Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||
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Subjects: | R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine T Technology > TN Mining engineering. Metallurgy T Technology > TX Home economics |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences > Mental Health and Wellbeing Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Human beings -- Effect of salt on, Salt, Sodium, Medical policy, Cardiovascular system -- Diseases -- Prevention, Diet, Nutrition | |||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Current Nutrition Reports | |||||||||
Publisher: | Springer | |||||||||
ISSN: | 2161-3311 | |||||||||
Official Date: | June 2022 | |||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 11 | |||||||||
Number of Pages: | 13 | |||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 172-184 | |||||||||
DOI: | 10.1007/s13668-021-00383-z | |||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | |||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | |||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 15 March 2022 | |||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 18 March 2022 | |||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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